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Success in this game is a relative thing in most cases. You can treat your patient enough to stabilize his condition and he will survive, even though the status screen may show that some of his organs are in "fair" or worse condition. Of course, if you do not treat his disease before the status indicator reaches the critical mark, you are in danger of losing him. A very critical condition can go terminal at any time. When two organs become terminal, the patient dies and the game ends.
Your score is measured in the amount of research dollars you are able to accumulate. You start outwith a certain sum based on the patient's condition and add to or subtract from it based on your success at treating his condition.
Another complication in doing surgery in Microsurgeon is the need to maintain a power supply for your robot probe. This creates a time limit on your operation. The power supply is drained off according to how fast you are operating and how much medication you use. You can gain power units by hitting viruses with aspirin.
The graphics used in this game are like nothing I've seen in any other TI game. Color is used to distinguish the lymphatic system, veins, arteries , and organs. The graphics include a representational display of the upper torso of a human body.
Each medication has its own shape and color, as does each disease. Among the medical problems youwill encounter are tar deposits in the lungs, tumors, tapeworms, kidney stones, gallstones, cholesterol buildup, viruses , and infections.
'''Ease of Use: ''' While the joystick is used to control the robot probe (you may also use the keyboard to do this though it is easier to use the joystick), commands to increase the speed of the probe or turn the EKG monitor or heart beat heartbeat sound on or off are entered via the keyboard. Selection of medications is also done through the keyboard. Once you get accustomed to which keys to hit, the game is easy to play. Of course, you must have a steady hand to guide the probe through the patient's veins, arteries , and lymphatic system.
'''Documentation: ''' The manual that comes with Microsurgeon is comprehensive and extremely welldesigned. Included is a full-color reproduction of the body as it appears in the game. , with coding toallow you to identify the body parts.
'''Value: ''' I enjoyed playing this game for a number of reasons. It is multidimensional and requires intelligence on the part of the player to succeed. It is also educational insofar as a player must gain an awareness of the body and the location of its organs to do well. Though this is not a game for younger children, those in their early teens who tried it were fascinated by it. Part of this may have been due to the fact that were studying the human body in school.
TI has always had a reputation for producing mediocre game software for its home computer. Finally , the company started coming out with the good stuff, and now it's out of business. Too bad, this is good stuff. --John Koloen-- ''Review from Home Computer Compendium (aka Micropendium), Volume 1, Number 1, February 1984''
